


on her terms

by interstellarbeams



Category: Aladdin (2019)
Genre: Decisions, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Jasmine is a BAMF, Married Couple, Minor Original Character(s), Royalty, Slice of Life, ruling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 17:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarbeams/pseuds/interstellarbeams
Summary: One of Jasmine’s former suitors wants to make a treaty with the new Sultan but he goes about it all the wrong way.





	on her terms

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Katie for all her help as my beta!
> 
> Prompt: aladdin + jasmine — “go to hell” 
> 
> I was gonna write this a different way but then Emma was like “what if you...” and this is what came out of that conversation. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! <3

The prince of the Cealon Empire had arrived a few months ago after his emissary had failed to make an alliance with the sultan through marriage to Jasmine. A little magic and Jasmine’s feelings for Aladdin came between him and his quest for more land and trade with the port city, but he hadn’t given up when he heard about her new marriage and had come to Agrabah to negotiate a new treaty instead. 

Needless to say he hadn’t expected the newly married princess to be seated in the throne room on the dais, graced with the new status of sultan like the sparkling crown that rested on her queenly head.

Aladdin hadn’t liked the pompous ass upon sight when he had fawned all over his wife in front of him and acted like Aladdin was a cockroach he would like to stomp on with his expensive and meticulously detailed leather boots. 

When Aladdin had attempted to make his acquaintance, he had curled his lip like he smelled something incredibly foul and barely nodded his head in Aladdin’s direction. Aladdin might have once been a street rat but he was Jasmine’s husband, the prince consort to the sultan, and he deserved a modicum of respect no matter the prince's personal opinions. 

Aladdin knew Jasmine noticed the slight, but in an effort to make the much needed alliance between the two powers, she had kept her mouth shut, although she told him later in their chambers how sorry she was for the treatment he had received from the other man.

Aladdin shrugged it off. He was normally a pretty affable guy and the things that he couldn’t control, like other people’s preconceived notions about him, he let slide like water off a duck’s back.

But the prince whose name was so long that even the majordomo — who spoke countless languages and read almost as many — had trouble pronouncing it, wasn’t done. He managed to insult Aladdin and his way of speaking, dressing, walking etc. at every meeting that he attended with his wife, her father and the new vizier. 

Finally, Aladdin decided he had had enough and asked Jasmine if she would formally excuse him from attending the remaining meetings. 

She had agreed, sitting at the large imposing desk that had been a gift from her father, a look of sympathy softening her eyes, but he wouldn’t allow her to pity him. 

“Hey, it’s OK. I already knew I wasn’t cut out for this job. You’ll make better progress without me there.” He smiled, bending to place a soft kiss on her forehead before he exited the room.

Her concerned calling of his name was interrupted by the introduction of another delegate who had an appointment with the young sultan and he was able to get away without having to explain further.

————

The next few weeks were slow but less stressful on Aladdin without the constant litany of degradations, slurs and slights slung his way from the young Cealon prince.

He felt lighter and freer, but he could tell that the constant meetings and arguments with the prince and his delegation plus his demands upon the palace servants were weighing heavily on his wife. 

Jasmine sighed as she sat down on the cushioned bench that rested on the balcony overlooking the large garden at the center of the palace complex. 

Aladdin looked up from the book he was reading at the sound. Seeing the way that his wife was sitting, head down and shoulders slumped, he stood up and set the leather-backed book down on a nearby table before moving to stand in front of her.

He ran a hand over the top of her head and she glanced up, a faint smile lifting the corner of her lips. She scooched over and patted the cushion next to her.

“Rough day?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist when she laid her head against his shoulder and sighed gustily.

“I don’t even have the energy to tell you about it.” She ran her fingers up and down his leg and he tensed, the ticklish feeling it evoked making him jump. 

She huffed out a quiet laugh, “Sorry.” 

“I’m just ticklish.” 

“I know.”

The cries of hawkers down in the streets died down, mimicking the fading rays of the afternoon sun as they sat in silence with their arms wrapped around each other.

“Aladdin?” Jasmine broke the silence, lifting her head off his shoulder so that she could look directly in his eyes.

“Yes, my love?”

“I hate to ask you this but is there any way you will be able to attend tomorrow’s meeting? I know you asked to be excused and I said you could be, but I could really use the support. Baba doesn’t get it. He’s a man who is used to dealing with these … swindlers! And I’ve had just about enough of this prince I could spit.” She reached over and squeezed his fingers, her eyes wide and emploring, but Aladdin had to laugh.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I would really enjoy that. Seeing you spitting mad. Just as long as it isn’t directed toward me.”

“You’re lucky I love you.” She glared at him, but he couldn’t stop smiling at the image of a hopping mad Jasmine.

She suddenly grew devious, directing her small fingers to his leg where she knew he was ticklish and attacking. Aladdin tried to lunge away, but she was too quick and kept him pinned between her, the bench arm and the banister behind them. He laughed, unable to control himself at the indescribable feeling, his voice echoing out over the city.

“OK, OK, I’m sorry!” He felt breathless and Jasmine let up, but she was still pressed up against him, a beautiful smile playing at the corner of her lips. 

“Will you do it? For me?”

“Of course I will. That’s what husbands are for.”

“You are a true blessing, my sun, and I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Aladdin expected to be let up now that she was done torturing him, but she had other plans as her arms wrapped around his neck and she pressed her lips to his.

————

The meeting was scheduled for early afternoon when the sun was at its hottest, the length of the hall cooler than any other part of the palace because of the gold-veined marble floors. 

In spite of the deliberate choice of his coolest tunic and pants, Aladdin felt sweat trickle down his back, but the anxiety that curdled his stomach at the thought of facing the Cealon prince and his insults was foremost in his thoughts, not his personal comfort. 

Jasmine turned her head, her conversation with her father, who sat to her left, completed. She smiled at him softly and Aladdin forgot about his worries when she reached out a hand and took his, forgoing all court formalities. She had told him when they married that being sultan might be her most important role, but being his wife was her most cherished one. 

The courtiers had looked askance at each other when they had first appeared in the throne room in such a way, but they had grown used to it over the past few months. When there wasn’t any kind of contact between the sultan and her husband, that’s when rumors of fighting between them would spread through the palace.

Aladdin had learned quickly that the palace halls were just as rank with gossip as the marketplaces where he used to steal. Tidbits of gossip would catch his attention — the baker’s daughter had a lazy husband, the rug seller’s youngest daughter was turning the most heads now that she was of marriageable age and of the fishmonger's oldest son who was finally to be married, to a sloe-eyed bedouin — just like the eagle eyes of the suspicious merchants whose merchandise he was eyeing. 

“Thank you for coming,” she spoke quietly, her attention focused solely on him despite the rumble of many other voices filling the air of the long room and floating up to bounce off the high ceiling. 

“It’s my pleasure.” Aladdin attempted to smile, but he was afraid it was more of a grimace as he let his nerves get the best of him. 

Jasmine squeezed his hand, offering him silent support through the comfort of her touch. 

She looked back out over the assembled group and frowned, “The prince is late. I don’t know how he expects me to negotiate with him when he doesn’t even show up on time.”

“I know. He’s … something else.” Aladdin harnessed the rude thought floating through his head but smiled, his nervousness forgotten, when Jasmine wrinkled her nose at him. She knew him well enough by now to know that he was holding back his real opinion.

She opened her mouth to speak when the doors at the end of the room were thrown wide and the prince was announced.

“Princess — ” the prince cleared his throat, “Ah, _Sultan_ , if I may. Our trade ships and their captains would feel much more comfortable if you evicted the riffraff and vagabonds, tore down all the falling-down buildings along the waterfront and moved the marketplace closer to the water. Cealon would be able to ship our main export, tea, and other goods more easily to the people of Agrabah if you agreed to these changes.” 

Aladdin cringed, glancing over at his wife, whose face had hardened at the foreign prince’s word usage. Jasmine didn’t accept harsh treatment of her people, especially toward those who were poor, sick and otherwise helpless. 

“What do you think evicting the people of Agrabah will get you? It definitely won’t win us any favor with our own people, who are the ones who will be affected. I won’t evict my people. These homes are all that they have!” Jasmine’s headpiece clinked as she moved her head and glared at the prince.

“Forgive me, your grace, but we can _not_ settle our differences if you continue to treat these street rats like they have any value. They are worthless when it comes to this. This compromise is where your coffers and my people’s resources will most likely benefit each other.” 

The courtiers mumbled, the sound of the crowd’s voices multiplying as they gave each other concerned and outraged looks. Aladdin shifted on his cushion, feeling the sting of the prince’s words poking at him like a mad hornet. 

“Excuse you?” His wife’s voice sent a chill down Aladdin’s spine, but this prince didn’t realize who he was dealing with. 

“You obviously have a soft spot for these ruffians, Highness.” He turned his eyes from Jasmine to Aladdin. “But don’t let that _weakness_ ruin your chances for an alliance with the Cealon people.” 

Jasmine stood up suddenly, her skirts swirling around her ankles as she walked down the steps, her long dark hair swaying across her back. The guards followed and Rajah growled, but she stopped him from coming after her with a quick thrust of her finger in his direction.

The mumbles of the wide-eyed courtiers cut off as she crossed the room, her trailing skirts barely creating a whisper of noise against the floor as she came to a stop in front of the sneering man, his bold eyes daring to trace her figure before he looked into her face. Aladdin knew by the straight ramrod of his wife’s stance, with shoulders back, that she was doing her best to keep her temper in check.

“Go to hell! I would much rather deal with these ‘street rats’ as you call them than vermin like you. You are only in this for yourself. The people of Agrabah are all an important part of my kingdom and you will _not_ slander them or my husband again.” She snapped right in his face, “Guards take this man away and make sure you see to it that he has a safe sendoff on his journey back to Cealon.” 

“But … ” The prince tried to protest but Jasmine had already turned her back on the man, whose arms were promptly seized by the palace guards as they escorted him from the throne room.

“ _Jasmine_ ,” Hamed cautioned with a concerned tone, “that isn’t the way a sultan goes about securing a treaty.”

“Baba, I accept your wisdom, but when it comes to that — _prince_ , we would be better off without him or his tea. Aligning ourselves with men like him, who look down their noses at those who are less fortunate, that think they should be catered too because of a position they were born into and have little respect for anyone but themselves, are not the men I will be relying on when it comes to the state of our country’s trade.” 

Jasmine’s father watched her seriously for a moment before he nodded his head once and Jasmine smiled before bending to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Baba.” 

The older man stood up with a grunt before he made his way from the room, a loyal servant immediately stepping to his side, and he motioned him to follow as he crossed the threshold leading into the palatial garden.

Aladdin stood, surprised to see the throne room clear out so quickly after such a sensational scene. It was likely that the news of the sultan throwing a prince out of her presence for insulting her husband would soon be spread through the palace and then leak into the marketplace like a spark of wildfire set to dry grass. 

“You didn’t have to — ”

“Of course I did,” Jasmine interrupted him, stepping closer.

“Thank you. I know I’m not mannered like a prince or as well-educated, I — ”

“You’re you and you’re perfect the way you are. I can’t imagine being married to a man like that. He probably treats his horse better than he would treat his wife.” 

“But I don’t have a horse,” Aladdin replied cheekily. 

“I know.” 

Jasmine stepped closer and Aladdin was suddenly thankful for the quick exit of the courtiers as she reached up and wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Their lips were breaths apart and he waited, unsure of why she had stopped when she seemed so eager moments before.

She finally lifted a hand and rubbed her thumb across his cheek. The touch was intimate and, strangely enough, brought tears to his eyes as he watched her watching him. 

“What? What is it?”

“Nothing. I’m just grateful that you were the husband I chose. There’s no one else but you for me.”

Aladdin swallowed hard, the tears in his eyes trying to escape, but he pushed them back. “There’s no one else but you for me, either.” 

Her smile turned tremulous, but he was sick of waiting and he pushed forward to capture her lips, his fingers tangled in her hair as he pulled her close. 

They pulled apart after a moment and he smiled, cockily. “You could always buy me a horse.”

“You would have to learn to ride it first,” she teased back and Aladdin was astounded because usually he was the one that was quickest with a comeback. 

Jasmine laughed, eyes sparkling as she looked up at him, and Aladdin forgot all about the sneering prince and all the trouble he had caused and let himself get lost in his wife’s eyes and in her arms.


End file.
